How Often Should You Pressure Wash Your Home?
Pressure washing is a quick option when your home starts looking drab and dated. Within hours, your home can be returned to its beautiful appearance with nothing more than high pressure water.
You can rent pressure washing equipment at many home improvement stores, or you can enlist the help of a Lakewood pressure washing service. It might be expensive upfront, but you won’t have to deal with bringing back equipment or the risk of damaging your home due to lack of training or experience.
However, pressure washing can damage your home just as fast as it can clean it. The pressurized water is powerful enough to break windows, damage siding and destroy shingles. Therefore, you have to be careful about how often you pressure wash your home and who you hire to do it.
Is it Time to Pressure Wash Your Home?
The question of how often to pressure wash your home is one that depends a lot on where your home is and weather factors based on that location.
Most professionals will recommend having your home pressure washed every year or, at least every 2 years.
Any pressure washing service that tries to tell you more frequent cleanings are needed is probably trying to squeeze a little more money out of you. However, it’s your house, and if you love how it looks shortly after a cleaning, you can pressure wash your home many times a year.
By just touching the wood or siding of your home, you will be able to tell if it needs a cleaning. The presence of dust, mud and grime can stain your home permanently if it isn’t washed off from time to time, so you could have to change from a planned schedule if you start to see a lot of buildup between cleanings.
Pressure washing sometimes can be harmful, but not doing it often enough can leave your home looking lackluster far more than it should. It’s important to note that home building materials, particularly vinyl siding, are very resistant to stains, mold and mildew. These types of materials protect your home between pressure washings.
Why Pressure Washing is the Preferred Method
Pressure washing is much safer than scrubbing the exterior of your home because you don’t have to climb up and down a ladder with a rag and a bucket while pulling a garden hose. Pressure washing can be completed from the ground in almost all residential situations.
Mold and mildew are living organisms that eat away at home exterior surfaces and make their way into your home. They are not very easy to get rid of, yet it is very easy for these things to grow into colonies on your exterior, especially on the north side where it doesn’t get much direct sunlight or wind as other sides of your home.
Plus, pressure washing gets rid of more dirt and grime than manual hand scrubbing.
Factors that Affect Your Home’s Exterior
All of the following items can impact the appearance of a home. They are all factors that must be considered before you hire a local pressure washer or try to do the job yourself.
CLIMATE
Factors like humidity and weather create a perfect environment for mold and mildew. If you live in an area that is rainy, you might also have wind and rain splashing mud onto the exterior of your home.
ENVIRONMENT
Pollen, pollution and mold can be bigger threat in some areas of Lakewood than in others. Having a home in a more rural area or near an unpaved road will factor into what type of environmental factors impact your home more.
HOME CONDITION
If you do decide to have your home pressure washed, it could be a smart idea to have chipped siding repaired so the high water pressure won’t do any more damage. Pressure washing can also worsen a peeling paint issue.
EXTERIOR FINISH
The equipment used for pressure washing are specific to your home’s exterior (brick, siding or wood) and the area of the home. For example, for roof cleaning, a pressure washing technician will use soft washing opposed to pressure washing to protect the shingles. And, the results can vary widely.
When to Pressure Wash Your Home
Determining the right time to have your home pressure washed is just as important as determining how often the service should be completed. There are times throughout the year when pressure washing would be a total waste of time and money. Different times, however, a professional pressure washing could benefit you in more ways than just appearance.
WEATHER
Don’t waste money on professional pressure washing in a rainy time of year. You’ll just end up with mud splatter and mildew at the end of the season regardless. Winter, for example, isn’t the best time. Pressure washing is most beneficial at the end of a season, whether it’s spring, summer, fall or winter.
BEFORE/AFTER HOME PROJECTS
Don’t plan to have your home pressure washed the same time you are having different projects done on your home. Rock, brick or siding could not be fastened into place during a repair like it will normally be, which means you run the risk of ruining the area, disrupting the ongoing work and trapping water under building materials.
BEFORE SELLING
Pressure washing is a cost-effective way to increase your home’s curb appeal. It’s the easiest solution for all your home’s exterior surfaces, including sidewalks, porches, driveways, patio furniture and wood and composite decks.
SUNNY DAYS
Choose a bright, sunny day, but don’t choose one that is very hot. This is the optimal condition for the surfaces to dry fast without baking cleaning products onto your home’s exterior.
If you are in an HOA, there could be guidelines about how regularly you have your home pressure washed or if you can do it yourself or if you have to hire a local service. You might only be under HOA rules concerning how your home looks, but it’s ultimately up to you to keep it looking maintained.
Pressure washing is one of the quickest and most effective methods to clean your entire home exterior. As long as it’s done correctly, it is safe for most home surfaces and can remove months of dirt and stains.